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Best Cookbooks for Home Chefs

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Curated cookbook collection for passionate home cooks who love beautiful design and bold flavors. 

Transform your kitchen into a culinary sanctuary with these essential cookbooks. From technique-driven masterclasses to gorgeously photographed flavor adventures, this collection celebrates diverse cuisines, stunning food photography, and recipes tha...
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Foundation Cookbooks + Techniques

Build your culinary foundation with science-backed techniques, timeless methods, and approachable wisdom from legendary chefs.

 
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An essential cookbook for every home chef's collection.
Joy of Cooking: Fully Revised and Updated
 
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The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science
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We eat the way we do in America now (non-derogatory) because of Alice Waters.
The Art of Simple Food: Notes & Recipes
 
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A modern kitchen essential that will change the way you approach cooking.
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering Cooking
 
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No essential cookbook list is complete without Jacques Pépin's seminal work.
Jacques Pépin New Complete Techniques
 
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“If you can read, you can cook.” - Julia Child
Mastering the Art of French Cooking (2 Volume Set)
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Mark Bittman can teach you how to do literally anything in the kitchen. This has been in my collection for decades, and it gave me so much more confidence.
How To Cook Everything: 20th Anniversary
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Global Flavors + Cultural Cuisine

Discover authentic global cuisines with beautiful photography and stories that connect you to culinary traditions worldwide.

 
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An instant best-seller for a reason, this cookbook makes both Korean and vegan cooking accessible.
The Korean Vegan Cookbook: Recipes from Omma's Kitchen
 
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Marcella Hazan can teach you how to make Italian food, period.
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking: 30th Ed
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An essential vegetarian cookbook that's also worthy of a place on your coffee table.
Ottolenghi Flavor: A Cookbook
 
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An updated version of one of our landmark cookbooks.
The New Book of Middle Eastern Food: Classic Cookbook
 
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This beautiful cookbook with amazing recipes deserves a place in your kitchen.
The Palestinian Table: Authentic Recipes
 
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A beautiful introduction to the Indonesian kitchen. I bought this after a trip to Bali so I could continue to experience the flavors of my vacation.
Coconut & Sambal: Indonesian Kitchen Recipes
 
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Authentic Indian home cooking from street food to curries to desserts.
Made in India: Recipes from Indian Kitchen
 
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A comprehensive cookbook for Korean cuisine. Give me all the banchan!!
Maangchi's Big Book of Korean Cooking
 
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One of the first cookbooks I ever bought, and I still use it regularly over 20 years later. Informative and approachable.
French Food at Home
 
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Accessible and innovative Indian-American hybrid recipes
Indian-Ish: Recipes & Antics from a Modern Family
 
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In my Cajun household, Chef Prudhomme was second to God.
Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen
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Modern + Lifestyle Cooking

Beautiful, design-forward cookbooks that celebrate modern home cooking, entertaining, and plant-forward cuisine with Instagram-worthy photography.

 
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An actually useful cookbook from an absolute legend.
Appetites: A Cookbook by Anthony Bourdain
 
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One of the hero cookbooks of vegetarian cuisine and a best seller of 2024
Easy Wins by Anna Jones - Vegetarian Cookbook
 
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Seasonal soul food that's accessible for beginners to seasoned home chefs.
Tanya Holland's California Soul Cookbook
 
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So many accessible recipes that feel like summer.
The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
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Approachable, joyful soul recipes that are all vegan!
Afro-Vegan: African, Caribbean & Southern Flavors
 
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A new foundational cookbook that will give you more confidence while you make some absolutely delicious food.
Cook This Book: Techniques & Recipes by Molly Baz
 
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A cookbook as delicious as it is beautiful, and a heartfelt tribute to food from black chefs around the globe.
Black Food: Stories, Art & Recipes Cookbook
 
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Come for the Chicken Marbella, stay for the 300 other useful recipes. This is a classic for a reason.
The Silver Palate Cookbook
 
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A cookbook that can also be displayed on your coffee table. It's actually informative too, with aspirational recipes that have gotten rave reviews at dinner parties.
Fridays From the Garden Cookbook

Baking + Sweets

From foolproof fundamentals to Instagram-worthy desserts, these baking cookbooks combine reliable techniques with stunning visuals. Whether you're perfecting sourdough, exploring global sweets, or creating show-stopping cakes, these books deliver bot...

 
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This cookbook will make you a better baker, period.
Sift: The Elements of Great Baking
 
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It's my dessert queen, Claire!!
Dessert Person: Recipes & Guidance by Claire Saffitz
 
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A 2025 James Beard Award-winning baking cookbook that is bursting with joy.
Bodega Bakes: Sweets & Treats Cookbook
 
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The gold standard for bread baking books from Portland's most acclaimed baker.
Flour Water Salt Yeast: Artisan Bread & Pizza
 
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From Milk Bar and Chef's Table to your own kitchen. Learn how to make Christina Tosi's naked layer cakes at home.
All About Cake: A Milk Bar Cookbook
 
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Ottolenghi returns to his pastry chef roots in this baking book full of showstoppers.
Sweet: Desserts from London's Ottolenghi
 
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POV: Gramercy Tavern's James Beard Award-winning pastry chef helps you recreate her desserts at home.
The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern